By that time, though, the Crewe boss had been frustrated by how his side let the contest get away from them against in-form Albion, who have now won six out of nine games in all competitions in 2019-20.

"We can't approach a game the way some of our players did against any team, let alone a team from a higher division," he told Cheshire Live.

"Some players have let themselves down. Me and Kenny (Lunt) both called it (before the game). That's not me trying to be a clever sod, you can tell when players are training properly, and you tell them.

"Now, there you go. Don't come and knock on my door again.

"I've said to them in the cold light of day, weeks ago, that I'll only shout at them for three things: not running around, whacking it, and not trying to win.